Tracing Trends: Multiplayer FPS

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There are a lot of FPS titles we're excited about next year. However, we're not sure exactly how the multiplayer aspects of them are going to pan out - let's have a quick think.

Unreal Tournament 2007
We've touched on this already, but perhaps it's worth expanding on. The most potential that this game has is to enable cross-platform gaming, but we really doubt that will happen. Unreal Engine 3 is being ported to PC, 360 and PS3, and with each having roughly the same amount of power, there's technically no reason why they all couldn't play against each other, were Epic to release their own multiplayer client software. Likelihood? Next to nothing.

What UT07 will bring to the mix is more vehicular combat than Quake 4, and possibly even bigger maps than Battlefield 2. UT04 had huge maps, some great objective-based gameplay, and some cool vehicle action too. We expect Epic to take this mix and run with it. UE3 is a very scalable engine, and we suspect that they'll be able to make some outrageous oudoor maps with it. With the larger memory of new consoles and the enhanced graphics and processing power, this could be a massively multiplayer romp which has no equal.

If you're big on the Unreal ethos, then you'll be salivating at this prospect. Personally, I enjoy UT, but I've never felt quite as involved in it as with the Quake universe. Perhaps that's odd, since UT has had far fewer weaponry and style changes, but I suppose it's because I can never, ever forgive them for inventing that horrendous goop gun. That just sucked so hard. Perhaps it's also because they invented possibly the best multiplayer weapon ever - the sniper rifle - made an absolutely astonishing map - the two towers suspended in space - then took out both in the next version of the game and replaced them with lame versions. If UT07 brings back the sniper rifle, I could possibly be convinced.


Halo 3
If I had to pick just one multiplayer FPS to get excited about, it would probably be this. This game has the potential to be the best FPS of all time, I'd suggest. Halo 2's single player rivalled the superlative-defying Half Life 2, and it did it on crusty old Xbox hardware. By the time Halo 3 comes out - the rumours are June next year - the PC won't quite be on the next generation of graphics hardware. There's every chance that Halo 3 could look better than any other game in existence, going by the juice that Bungie managed to squeeze out of the Xbox last time around.

Halo 2 has been the benchmark for multiplayer, with a crateload of game modes, multiplay options and with online stat tracking. It is the game that has made the most of Xbox Live and has inspired the Live functionality on the 360. Halo 3 is going to take this to a new level, we suspect.

We're expecting better graphics, better weapons, more maps, more gameplay and more options for game creation and customisation. Bungie has been great at making new content available regularly to Halo players, and this has been a reason for the continued popularity of the game on Xbox Live, much as new content has sustained Counter-Strike. We expect that the ubiquity of downloadable content on the 360 will help to move this to the next level.

Plus, rumour has it, you can use a USB keyboard and mouse with the 360. We haven't tried it... but this could be a winner.

Duke Nukem Forever
Well, we had to put it in. There's every possibility that DNF could actually make it out this year, after its recent engine switch. Duke Nukem 3D had some pretty cool multiplayer gameplay, although the hardcore mostly stuck to Quake, at the time. With it's typically over the top style, DNF has the potential to top Serious Sam as the best 'party shooter' although that is, of course, assuming it actually exists.


The rest
The sequel to Far Cry is due out this year - it may yield some incredible graphics along with some decent gameplay. Far Cry was a great single player experience, but we didn't really rate the multiplayer. Perhaps this version could add substantially to the online play and steal a march on its rivals.

Half Life 2: Aftermath is also due out early next year, but we don't anticipate that adding significantly to the multiplayer gene-pool - Counter Strike is doing too well.

There will be more Battlefield expansions, we suspect - however, whether they will add anything genuinely new I have doubts about.